Ki kehnda?: Most widely-spoken mother tongue ignored in local schools

Punjabi, other regional languages not being taught in Punjab government schools.

RAWALPINDI:

One of the most important features of cultural identity is the ability to speak one’s mother tongue.

But this medium of expression has lost its importance for the Punjab government as they never bothered to make Punjabi part of the syllabus, despite its status as one of two widely spoken languages in the province, along with Seraiki.

Unlike Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) and Sindh, where mother tongues are being taught from nursery to college level and are now compulsory subjects, the government of Punjab has shown no interest in protecting its cultural identity.

“Punjabi has never been part of syllabus as far as I remember,” claimed a senior teacher of Government Dannys Higher Secondary School in Rawalpindi. He said no efforts were made by any past government to support the language as a medium of instruction.

National College of Arts Director Dr Nadeem Umer Tarar said concept formation is only possible in mother tongues and this helps students enhance their academic skills.

“Children’s conceptual understanding is possible only in their mother tongue,” he said.

He added mother tongue plays a vital role in shaping ideas and understanding native culture. He added that better and effective understanding is possible only in mother tongue.

“Teaching ideas in an alien language hinders the process of concept formation and leaves the students confused,” he said.

Teachers at government schools also expressed difficulties in teaching their students in English.

“Most students cannot pick ideas in English. Moreover, most teachers cannot even teach their subjects in English,” said a teacher of the Dannys school.

They said they are not against English, but Punjabi should also be included as a compulsory subject.

Regional languages should be promoted and encouraged through curriculum to boost diversity and ensure national integration, they added.

“The process of losing this feature of cultural identity is slow but very painful. Those who know the importance of mother tongues can feel this pain,” said Muhammad Atta, an official at Pakistan Academy of Letters.

Private schools are also not teaching regional languages to their students.

“Our students are already overburdened by their syllabus books and adding another regional or local language will place extra burden on them,” said Muhammad Ibrar, an office-bearer of Private School Association Rawalpindi.

He argued that students in private schools can easily pick ideas in English, and Urdu is already a part of the syllabus.

“On one hand, we feel pride in speaking and learning English, while on the other, we are worried about our mother tongue,” said Muhammad Salman, an English teacher at Government High School Ghareebabad, summing up the problem.

“We, as a nation, are confused,” he said, while opining that getting rid of this confusion would require bold steps should be protect cultural identity as well as ensuring that students learn foreign languages which they will need later in life.

Education Secretary Abdul Jabbar Shaheen was not available for comment.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 26^th, 2014.